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WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney yesterday called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate national-security leaks in the Obama administration, spilling the matter into the presidential campaign.
“I do believe they’re very serious, I do believe a special prosecutor should be looking into them,” Romney told Fox News Channel.
Romney joins Republican senators who are protesting the appointment of two federal prosecutors by Attorney General Eric Holder to probe the matter.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) became the first non-Republican to make the special-counsel request over the weekend, saying the investigators should come from outside the administration.
“We need a special counsel because a special counsel avoids any appearance of conflict of interest,” Lieberman — a former Democratic nominee for vice president — said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Special counsels . . . were created for a situation exactly like this, where people might reach a conclusion that investigators, US attorneys even, working for the attorney general appointed by the president, cannot independently and without bias investigate high officials of their own government,” he said.
Lieberman pointed out that one of the US attorneys picked to look over the matter is a former Obama campaign supporter and donor.
The US attorneys are looking into leaks that include reports of a planned US and Israel cyber attack on Iran.
Another report detailed a “kill’’ list Obama oversees, in addition to reports of secret drone strikes and the outing of an al Qaeda double agent in Yemen.
“The recent leaks are the worst in a long time,” said Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “An enormous amount of damage has occurred to our national security. These leaks compromise the security of every American.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has led the charge in calling for the independent investigators and has been joined by GOP colleagues Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Holder has lost all credibility in Congress, McCain said.
“This needs a special counsel, someone entirely independent of the Justice Department,” McCain told CNN.
McCain has accused the administration itself of leaking the information — often to The New York Times — to make Obama look strong on security.
Romney’s calls for a special prosecutor puts added pressure on the White House. Romney is running neck-and-neck with Obama in most polls.
The release of the information has to be thoroughly investigated, Romney said yesterday.
“Those items should not be leaked in such a way that puts America’s interests and our people in jeopardy.”
But Holder and Obama show no indication of appointing a special prosecutor. David Plouffe, a senior White House adviser, noted that one of the attorneys is a Bush appointee.
“There’s going to be a very thorough investigation,” Plouffe told “Fox News Sunday.”